


Imagine

by jadenmd (taboonalady)



Series: Imagine [1]
Category: Arashi (Band), Gimmick Game - Ninomiya Kazunari (Song), Japanese Actor RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Art School, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Mentioned Aiba Masaki, Mentioned Matsumoto Jun, Reference to Nino's ex who I clearly know in my mind but I'll leave her unnamed for the audience, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-04
Updated: 2011-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:36:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23106328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taboonalady/pseuds/jadenmd
Summary: When two lost souls meet, they suddenly experience something extraordinary they could not experience with anyone else. And this is their story.
Relationships: Ninomiya Kazunari/Yoshitaka Yuriko
Series: Imagine [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1660819
Kudos: 1





	Imagine

**Author's Note:**

> For all Kazuyuri shippers out there. It is a one-shot—next work is the fanmix. Crossposted from LJ, edited for better language usage.

Yuriko has found her paradise.  
  
Cherry blossoms in spring; the entire Tokyo campus of Wellingshire University emits this radiance of soft pink and warm orange tint of sunset as she strolls around, with nothing on her hands but a sunflower and a basket full of cherry blossom petals as she swings her arms back and forth. As a third year student majoring in fine arts, this place feels like an absolute heaven of sorts—where she can move around freely and no one gives a damn what she’s up to.  
  
Yuriko is used to being alone. Many girls of her age find her to be a little strange, if not at all intimidating, and Yuriko finds it amusing that they do not even bother to have the same interests as she. She may come off as conceited that way, not that she minds really. Whatever she has become in her life right now, she doesn’t care anymore about what other people think; through the years of being a free spirit, she has also learned how to become strong in times of adversity.  
  
  
 _Underneath the comforting warmth of this birch tree, there exists wondrous and exceptional love._  
  
\---  
  
Nino is in senior year at Wellingshire University, Tokyo. A song-writing and composition major.  
  
Being in his last year, he realizes he is going to leave the university soon. For countless times, he’s just locked up in his dorm room, glancing at the window and finding some inspiration for his new song. The sound of his pen tapping on the wooden desk, the tree branches of cherry blossoms swinging outside his window, the sun leaving a faint tinge of red on his face... this scenery is what he’s going to miss the most by the time he walks out of the campus grounds for good.  
  
It’s obvious that Nino is quite the loner. He does not have _friends_ but he does hang out with a few acquaintances in his music classes during break times: Ohno, majoring in fine arts, and Sakurai, majoring in piano pedagogy.  
  
By the end of the day, he finds himself alone again in his room, writing his worries and fantasies away like these are all true. He takes comfort in this.  
  
  
 _On this paper, even though I write the most bittersweet words, this is the only way I know, the only way I can convey my love for you._  
  
\---  
  
She is in love with being under the birch tree. Whenever she tries to aimlessly draw or paint, all she needs to do is sit down beneath this old tree and everything falls into place. Just how she likes it. She smiles as she continues her current endeavour: a landscape painting of a place that she has never been to, but imagines living there for the rest of her life; valleys and river streams and greenery and all that.  
  
Her left hand aiding the movement of the brush, it stops when she suddenly feels that everything is too _plain_.  
  
She has always drawn landscape sceneries and still-life images because it has been easy for her to do so; they don’t move, they don’t talk to her, they don’t _complain_ about whatever it is that she knows she won’t care about in the least. It is easy because she has never needed to deal with them.  
  
But won’t it be interesting to have a human subject, just this once?  
  
An experiment, Yuriko thinks, as she smiles once more to herself and begins to move her left hand again.  
  
  
 _I imagine a life with only awe and bliss, without worries and care. A life where I can explore the world with the one I love the most..._  
  
\---  
  
“Nino... Nino...”  
  
Someone is calling his name and he cannot see who it is.  
  
“Do you know who I am?”  
  
The voice is distorted, but he can at least make out that it’s from a woman.  
  
Nino squints at the blinding white light. “I... d-don’t... Who are you?”  
  
Giggling. Seeming mischievous, but nevertheless adorable; he hasn’t heard this resonating voice before. It intrigues him.  
  
“You tell me.”  
  
A blurry image finally appears. This woman has shoulder-length hair with a sunflower tucked under her ear, wearing a cream-coloured figure-hugging top without sleeves and long, flowing patterned skirt. Once Nino has taken in her entire facade, she giggles again.  
  
That’s the time when Nino wakes up.  
  
  
He looks around his otherwise dark and empty room. He never had dreams like that before. Often when he dreams, he meets his former love in such a trance, haunting him at his weakest, forcing him to give in to emotions he never even realize existed, making him hide behind the mask of his rather complex and confusing songs.  
  
But he already is sick of writing about her and the pain she’s causing him. He hasn’t completed a song in more than two months, ever since they parted, not counting the ones he did for the sake of his academics, and he blames it for lack of (the overrated) _inspiration_.  
  
Hence this dream. This time, it’s different. This time, he sees someone he has never met, yet someone who catches his attention; someone who gives him an entirely different feeling, even just for that short moment. Why does his mind suddenly try to create something he has not felt for a long time? Or possibly, something he has _never_ felt at all? (At least not yet.)  
  
Then it hits him: She probably does not even exist at all. She does not exist in the real world—in that sad, suffocating reality he tries to escape everyday. But maybe, that’s all for the better. At least, in his imagination, she may not even be able to lay a finger on his vulnerable self.  
  
He sighs. Perhaps, this mysterious girl can be his “inspiration” until then.  
  
  
 _A world where I am invincible to pain, where I can express myself, my love, without hurting myself in the process... somehow, some day, with someone._  
  
\---  
  
Yuriko walks into her basic photography class, a general education class required for all Liberal Arts students of Wellingshire University. Like always, she chooses to sit at the dead center of the huge lecture hall. It’s not that she wants attention; far from that, actually. It’s just that when she’s seated too far from the professor, she tends to space out; and when she’s seated in front, she may get distracted of the professors’ odd mannerisms.  
  
  
Nino enters the classroom that interests him the most—the biggest lecture hall in the university that can hold about 100 students in one session—merely for the fact that he cannot contain his urge to catch everyone’s attention whenever he’s in the room (he isn’t _that_ much of a shut-in really). He then sees Sakurai, “ _Sho-chan_ ” as Nino calls him, beckoning Nino to sit directly in front of the writing board and between Sakurai and Ohno, whom he endearingly calls “ _Oh-chan_ ”. Nino smiles as he approaches them.  
  
With a click of the tongue, he greets them, “Your biases are too obvious, guys. Just because we have a young and pretty teacher in this class... That’s not fair to our male professors, you know.” He sits down where he’s originally directed to.  
  
Sho looks at him with an expression that is a combination of confusion and surprise. As if oblivious to Nino’s apparent jesting, Ohno simply replies, “But you’re the one who likes pretty professors, Nino.”  
  
Nino scoffs and rolls his eyes. Sho chuckles and says in-between breaths, “That’s true, though.”  
  
“Shut up.”  
  
  
Waiting is always boring, if not annoying. Yuriko twists her hair unconsciously, reflecting on what she should do in case this class gets dismissed earlier than expected, and looks around the room. As she shifts her attention from one group of students to another, she now tries to consider what she should do for her experiment: Should she choose a female subject or a male one? Should that person resemble normalcy or uniqueness? Further, should that person be someone whom Yuriko likes?  
  
The professor finally arrives as the class settles down. Yuriko sighs and takes out her homework, a black and white photograph of her favorite spot in the campus—that birch tree near this lecture hall—as she waits for the professor to begin the class.  
  
Then all of a sudden, someone catches her attention. Even with the triviality of the way he laughs at his friends and then suddenly has his head plopped down over his crossed arms on the table, she cannot quite point out what makes him stand out from the rest; he is wearing a sky blue cardigan (and possibly blue jeans), but he makes it look so fresh, so young, so _clean_. He does not even look like a college student to her. Is he lost? Is he a visiting high school student disguising as a college student? _What is he?_  
  
“So Mr. Ninomiya,” Professor Yamamoto, as she is often called by students, says, and the boy Yuriko is looking at immediately raises his head. (She then concludes that he is a university student too like her.) “I hope you did your homework this time. I can’t allow you to have late submissions again.”  
  
“Of course I did, Professor,” Ninomiya nods with an air of confidence that fascinates Yuriko. The fact that he’s overly confident and yet comes off too differently from that image mesmerizes her. She raises an eyebrow, deliberating the possibilities in her head. Maybe she will try to observe him first, just as how experiments go anyway, and _then_ maybe she can already approach him for a favor.  
  
Or not, she can always use bribery to lure him in; it doesn’t matter to her, really.  
  
“Then show me.”  
  
Ninomiya brings out his homework from his shoulder bag. “Here.”  
  
The professor takes it out of his hands, and does a double-take. “But... I asked for a photograph of your favorite place in the university. Why an opened notebook?”  
  
“It’s my refuge, professor,” he simply utters. “When I write, I retreat to that little space, trying to confine myself in words. It’s my favorite place in the world.”  
  
While the professor stands flabbergasted, Yuriko smiles to herself.  
  
By some miracle of fate, and wonderful stroke of luck, she may have already found the subject of her experiment.  
  
  
 _Let us share the beauty of our own realm._  
  
\---  
  
Nino doesn’t understand the concept of surprises. When Sho always tells him that Nino is full of surprises, all he does is tilt his head to the side and retort, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”  
  
That same instance happens just after Professor Yamamoto’s class. When the professor leaves, Ohno gives him a round of applause—because somehow, he knew that Nino made up that “refuge” bit only _after_ taking the photo, although Nino probably meant what he said in class—and Sho tells him the same thing again.  
  
“That was amazing, Nino!” Sho appears to be just as surprised. “You were probably just too lazy to go out of your room, but regardless, that explanation was excellent! Even our professor couldn’t say anything back!”  
  
Nino scoffs, not minding Sho’s expression and packing his bag. “Even if you were being sincere, I don’t think I deserve the applause, _Ohno-san_. Besides, how does this even surprise you guys? You know me well enough to _expect_ that I wouldn’t follow her instructions, specifically to go out of the dormitory room for this homework. And I would be lying if I chose the library or the basketball court.”  
  
Ohno shrugs. “Can we eat lunch?”  
  
Sho chuckles at his friend. “Of course we can. Nino, come with?”  
  
“Yeah sure.”  
  
The three of them walk out of the lecture hall. Nino doesn’t intend to lead his eyes astray, but for some reason, his line of vision gravitates to the birch tree outside the lecture hall.  
  
He cannot believe it.  
  
She is wearing a beige tube top that fits her upper body a little _too_ perfectly, complementing her long skirt of pastel colors and flowery patterns that come off as nothing but soothing, her shoulder-length hair resting on her bare shoulders.  
  
“It’s her.” Nino murmurs absentmindedly. He blinks about three or four more times to make sure of what he’s seeing.  
  
Sho looks at where Nino is currently facing and comments, “ _Her_? What about Yoshitaka-san?”  
  
Nino is quick to turn his head back to his friend. “You _know_ her?!”   
  
“She’s a classmate of mine,” Ohno interjects, also looking at the girl who is standing beside the tree, in front of a wooden easel and with a palette and a brush at hand.  
  
Sho chuckles, “You’d know if you actually attended some of the classes we took. Your choice of courses are too bizarre sometimes, Nino. ‘Music in video games’, really?” But Nino becomes too preoccupied to notice Sho’s mocking. It’s _her_ , that mysterious girl in his dreams... literally. He is surprised enough already that he can remember that vague image from his subconsciousness; how much more surprised is he when he now learns she’s in the same university as he is?  
  
 _Surprised._ A word he has never understood, a word he never even _thought_ that would describe himself, but now, it currently expresses exactly what he feels.  
  
“Yuriko-chan!” Ohno calls out to her, as Nino then hastily covers the older man’s mouth.  
  
“Idiot, don’t!” Nino groans, although he does not hesitate to let her name register in his mind. _Yoshitaka Yuriko._  
  
But Nino’s efforts have already been in vain. Yuriko turns in his direction, waving at Ohno and slowly starting to come over.  
  
“Shit,” Nino mumbles, burying his face in both of his palms, as Sho puts an arm around him. Sho then tells him, “You’re too obvious, Nino.”  
  
“Shut up,” Nino doesn’t move in his position.  
  
“Good day, Ohno-san,” Yuriko, still holding a palette in one hand and a brush in another, greets them with the brightest smile painted across her refined features. “I didn’t know you were also in the photography class earlier.”  
  
Nino jerks, possibly out of another surprise that they are actually classmates—and possibly that she heard his logorrheic spouting about his assignment—and now, he cannot bring himself to raise his head.  
  
“Oh, and you were too?” Sho asks in his usual delightful tone. “Sorry about that Yuri-chan, we didn’t know either.”  
  
Yuriko shakes her head, an indication that she doesn’t mind. She then tilts her head as she observes Nino. “Ninomiya-san... is it?”  
  
“What?” Nino suddenly tries to meet her gaze as he quickly lifts his head. And, as if he’s not surprised enough, her attention is directed towards _him_. “U-Uh, yes, that’s me.”  
  
Yuriko’s smile grows wider, her magnificent dimples showing, and she holds out her left hand. “Yoshitaka Yuriko.”  
  
Sho nudges Ohno, before declaring, “We’ll go ahead now, Nino. Satoshi’s hungry.”  
  
Nino gives them the go signal in the subtlest hand movement he can do, which in turn helps him gather all the confidence he _should always_ have, finally giving her a simple smile back. “Ninomiya Kazunari. Nino, if it’s easier for you.”  
  
“Can you model for me, Ninomiya-san?”  
  
Nino blinks at her. “ _P-Pardon_?”  
  
Yuriko laughs. “I want you to be the subject of my next work.”  
  
Clearly dumbfounded, he just blinks again. “Are you serious?”  
  
“I wouldn’t ask you if I wasn’t serious,” she raises her eyebrows at him. “Anyway if you’re concerned about the compensation, I’m willing to cover it. Just note that I’m not rich. You know, just a college _art_ student.”  
  
He nods, “Got it.”  
  
But isn’t being with ‘the girl of his dreams’ already compensation enough?  
  
“Okay, I’ll do it. For games.”  
  
“Games?” she tilts her head to one side, a bit confused herself.  
  
“Oh forget about it. Just enough money for games will do.” Of course he doesn’t want to scare her off just as easily as he reeled her in. And of course he will stand by those words—that he ‘reeled her in’—especially with what he’s going to say next. “But be careful, you will not want to let go of me afterwards.”  
  
“Right. I will try,” she chuckles heartily, “So here’s my e-mail address and mobile phone number. Give me a ring when you’re free.”  
  
“Thanks.” His smile widens. “Say, have you had lunch?”  
  
Yuriko shakes her head, having this sheepish smile that Nino knows he can’t resist.  
  
And with that, Nino’s world suddenly opens up to new horizons.  
  
  
 _Then maybe we can start anew. Together._  
  
\---  
  
Yuriko learns, after having hung out with Nino for several days, that Nino is quite the exceptional songwriter.  
  
She learns more about this one Saturday morning in one of the art studios in the university, during one of their sessions together. Every time she allows him to take a break, he immediately brings out his pen and notebook, the one he mentioned in their photography class, as he scribbles something that Yuriko cannot help but get curious about. But since she’s afraid to invade his privacy, she doesn’t ask.  
  
At least not until he asks _her_ about her own works.  
  
“So you’ve _always_ drawn forests and rivers and stuff like that?” Nino suddenly speaks out as he continues writing. Yuriko lets out a hum of affirmation, and then he looks at her. “Then why move on to people?”  
  
Yuriko shrugs, running her brush on the canvas with such grace, her painting as of this moment revealing only Nino’s lean arms. She’s actually not quite sure yet where to go, but trusting her instincts has always been her strength. So she answers him, “I just felt like it.”  
  
“And you chose me because you felt like it as well?” Nino teases.  
  
“Pretty much,” Yuriko chuckles without looking at him.  
  
“I don’t know if that’s flattering or not.”  
  
She moves her head to the side to take a glance at him, “Well, you don’t have to flatter yourself all the time.”  
  
Then silence befalls as both of them carry on with their own activities. Yuriko notices that Nino seems to be less sarcastic today as he usually comes up with a better response to that than simply _silence_ , and perhaps that’s because he’s so into his writing. That’s when Yuriko’s curiosity finally exceeds her fear of asking him.  
  
“Ninomiya-san,” this time Yuriko hears Nino’s hum, “What do you usually write about?”  
  
He scoffs; he doesn’t even try to move from where he’s positioned. “Oh you know, the ever overrated heartbreak and pain. Nothing extraordinary.”  
  
“Can I take a look at some of them?” she asks innocently, although this surprises Nino, for the nth time. He has a feeling surprises will now be a regular occurrence every time he’s with her.  
  
Nino stands up and hands her a sheet of paper from his bag. “Knock yourself out. I wrote this one for that sleazy professor who grosses me out with his out-of-this-world double entendres.”  
  
 _Gimmick Game_ , it reads. She scans through it. “I don’t understand.”  
  
Nino scoffs, smirking, “No one does. That’s why I wrote it for that unbelievable subject. The professor’s stupid enough to dismiss it as acceptable, when in reality it just confused him.”  
  
“I mean,” Yuriko is still reading the song sheet in front of her, “Why do you refer to yourself as the one at fault in this?”  
  
“Well, when I wrote that—wait, what?”  
  
“This was written in the perspective of your girlfriend, right? That’s why you used the feminine perspective.”  
  
“Uh, of course not,” Nino quickly takes the paper out of her hands and goes back to his seat. “And I don’t have a girlfriend.”  
  
She cannot help but giggle; she never knew catching him off guard would be one of the most fun things for her. In fact, she hasn’t had fun with anyone this much for a long time now. She also hasn’t been this close with anyone in a while—she hasn’t been _alone_ with anyone in a while—and as grim as she remembers how it was, now Nino makes being with someone feel... _fascinating_ for her.  
  
And Yuriko realizes: It must have been just as grim for him, this past encounter with whomever it was, to make him write a song as perplexingly frustrating as this.  
  
So she decides not to bring up the topic again.  
  
“You’re getting way too much fun out of this, aren’t you?” Nino suddenly breaks her train of thought.  
  
After a few beats, she once again laughs, this time without any reserve whatsoever. “It’s a special song, if no one has ever sincerely told you.”  
  
“I don’t need that really, but thank you,” Nino waves a hand repeatedly, mostly as a gesture of humility. “It’s just amusing to confuse people sometimes; realizing I have that power without even exerting much effort.”  
  
“I don’t know,” Yuriko shrugs, “Maybe people see that as confusing, therefore exceptional, but I see it differently. You make it exceptional because it comes from within.” She pauses. “Or maybe, you’re just as confused as people are about this song.” She then shrugs again, implying that she’s playing around.  
  
Nino understands immediately and chuckles, “Fine, fine, I am the sensitive kind. You see, I’m not aware of that since people usually don’t say that about me. I’m usually the shut-in who couldn’t care less about the world.”  
  
“But I’ve always thought you _are_ the sensitive kind, especially during that photography class,” Yuriko smiles at him as he merely stares back, a little bit surprised, but pleasantly surprised nonetheless.  
  
Because, for Yuriko, despite his dark, hidden past and cold façade, Nino is actually very accommodating, the kind who makes her feel at ease. She’s never had that for a long time.  
  
Until now.  
  
  
 _The essence of the sunburst on my red cheeks, the taste of the cold breeze on my lips, the smell of the morning dew, this scenery will never fade, as long as I have you._  
  
\---  
  
Nino isn’t particularly optimistic, like that guy Aiba, who is practically a big ball of sunshine and rainbows and puppy dogs (Nino plays baseball with him on occasion), but he is pretty confident that this, whatever this is that he has with Yuriko, is going well than he originally hoped. Never mind that he has been attracted to her even before they met; Yuriko has become more than just a good companion to Nino—not simply a better way to spend his time—because she has opened his mind to things he didn’t even use to notice.  
  
And somehow Nino isn’t like the ever-popular Matsumoto either, who can sweep women off their feet only with one wave of his hand. But with the way Nino can make her laugh at his weird ideas, banter with his self-centered comebacks, and even give in to his wishes to let him go earlier than what was agreed upon, Nino cannot help but think this is something better than how his entire college life has been. If Yuriko can make him forget how painful it was to be with someone he liked, then she must be a really special person. And he knows he cannot ask for anything more.  
  
But all these things do not quite describe Yuriko, at least not on the surface, and Nino discovers more about this on their third session.  
  
  
He strolls across Yuriko’s studio, like he always has when he’s waiting for her to finish preparing her materials, and among everything that screams green and blue and purple and yellow and red, there is but one thing that catches his attention the most; it is, above all, a far cry from all the usual bright-colored paintings he has had a pleasure of seeing from her. At first look, it is a clear depiction of the forest at night, but upon closer inspection, Nino sees a turbulent river, also a horse in grief and despair, its front legs rising high above in the air as if going beyond control, beyond his senses, beyond sanity. The clouds resemble a troubled spirit, chaotic and lost. Scary and bleak do not even quite cut it.  
  
Just by looking at it, Nino can feel how hard it must’ve been for Yuriko, for her to get through whatever it was.  
  
“Oh, I thought I already hid that,” he then hears Yuriko murmur beside him; he has probably been looking too closely that he did not even feel her approach him. She picks it up, when he holds her by the arm. Yuriko stiffens a bit, but answers nevertheless, “Mm?”  
  
“My turn to ask,” Nino makes sure he gazes straight into her eyes. “What’s that painting all about?”  
  
“Are you asking because you’re curious,” she cocks an eyebrow at him, “Or because of something else that bothers you?”  
  
“Both.” He pauses as he lets go of her arm. And then he opens his mouth again, “Maybe a little bit of the former, but definitely more of the latter.”  
  
Her eyebrow goes even higher. “So it bothers you because...?”  
  
“Because it’s not like your other paintings,” he explains as logically as he can, but of course, he actually means something else. Like it bothers him because he does not want to even _think_ of seeing her in same state as that painting. But he does not rather to tell her that, at least not now.  
  
Yuriko scoffs, still smiling, “I did that the night I found out I was cheated on, over a year ago.” She then walks into a smaller room, most likely a storage room of sorts, and comes out shortly, surprised to find Nino still standing just outside the door.  
  
He suddenly grabs a hold of her, pulls her into a tight embrace, Yuriko squeaking softly out of more surprise. Nino cannot help but think of the image he saw earlier; the image evolves into something that horrifies him, something he cannot bear for some reason. Does he actually feel something more for her now than purely infatuation?  
  
He doesn’t know why he did it himself, but it feels natural. It feels right. As if by intuition, he holds her closer to him, and he can feel her heart beating faster against his chest.  
  
Nino realizes, after a while, that for her, it probably doesn’t feel just as right. So he lets her go.  
  
“Sorry about that,” he murmurs afterwards, turning to walk away.  
  
“Y-you don’t have to worry about it,” Yuriko says, her voice shaking out of, as far as Nino can tell, nervousness. He didn’t mean to make her feel so uncomfortable at such a moment.  
  
After a few minutes of awkward silence (Nino is starting to regret that embrace he did), Yuriko approaches him again.   
  
“Um,” she cannot bring herself to say his name, but she hands him an invitation, smiling as naturally as she can. “I-If you’d like to come... with me.”  
  
He stares at her with a blank expression on his face before opening the invitation.  
  
A party. For the entire college of liberal arts.  
  
“I know you don’t like parties,” she quickly finds the words to avoid making the atmosphere any more awkward, sighing, “But I think you should come, as a senior.”  
  
Nino meets her gaze, and her eyes seem to be _pleading_. He doesn’t know why she wants him to go with her, or even why she wants to go with _him_ , claiming that it’s for his own good. But then again, that’s what makes her interesting. And if anything, imagining Yuriko go out with anyone else when it could be just _him_ sends his mind in a frenzy. Nino is never the insecure type, but he knows he doesn’t like losing, especially when the chance is already staring him right in the face.  
  
“I still have a full year for parties, you know,” Nino manages to kid, making Yuriko let out a small chuckle. He missed hearing that even if it’s just been a while. “A-Are you sure?”  
  
Yuriko simply bobs her head, showcasing her pretty dimples. He sighs in relief and it makes her chuckle again.  
  
“And thank you,” she breaks the silence once more, “For making me feel like I’m not alone.”  
  
Nino is taken aback, his eyes widening for a second. So she _does_ appreciate that embarrassing gesture he did earlier. “You’re not.”  
  
And just like that, the room is filled with yellows and blues and greens, like the beautiful scenery of nature.  
  
  
 _I climb atop these rocky paths, through all the unbearably hot days and the cold dark nights; I know it leads all to you, my priceless treasure, and I know it will all be worth it._  
  
\---  
  
At the night of the party, Yuriko arrives at their meeting place, which is simply in front of the university hall, the venue of the event, seeing Nino standing there, wearing a plain white shirt with three black paper dots lined up and stuck on it. And it’s supposed to be a costume party.  
  
“You’re not wearing a costume.” But as always, he is the first one to protest, and for a good reason; she has chosen not to change her attire: the tube top-long skirt combination she has always loved did not get replaced. And surely she wouldn’t replace it, most especially for a special occasion such as this.  
  
She knows Nino’s jabs are merely playful, and she’s used to play around. She looks down at what she’s wearing. “Oh yes I am.”  
  
Again, Nino does not protest further, but his eyes keep scanning her up and down as if trying to read her like a book. (Yuriko is also used to this.) A few more moments, before, “You look like a hippie.”  
  
Yuriko finally bursts into giggles, because she obviously cannot carry on a deadpan conversation like this one. “That’s the idea.” Then it’s her turn to stare him down. “But you’re the one to talk. What are you supposed to be anyway?”  
  
“I thought a fine arts student like you would be the first one to figure it out.”   
  
She almost instantaneously spaces out, before doing another double-take at him. She says in her signature monotonous voice, “I still don’t get it.”  
  
Nino then starts to smile and gives her a wink, “I’ll tell you at the end of the night.”  
  
  
It’s not that Yuriko enjoys parties—she would actually enjoy sleeping at her own dorm room more—but she figured a time with Nino that did not involve her experimental project would be a nice break. Hence the invitation; the fact that she feels _secure_ with him around—she feels like she can break out of her shell, because even if no one appreciates her he surely will—is enough reason to take him to this party.  
  
Now they enter the university hall, shades of red lights and black decor spread throughout the place, accompanied with loud music that she isn’t familiar with, and she thinks it’s more of a horror costume party than anything else. She inches closer to Nino, hoping that he notices but won’t mind, as he continues to look around.  
  
“Do you think Sakurai and Ohno are here?” he shouts, trying to be heard over the intense sound. “I don’t know anyone else.”  
  
Yuriko isn’t careful of where she’s walking, so when someone accidentally bumps into her, she also bumps into Nino who quickly grabs her by the arms. His reflexes are faster than a runner’s pace, and her heart skips a beat. It’s that familiar feeling that night when he held her in his arms.  
  
“Oh—are you okay?” He asks, but she only nods. He nods as well, concerned enough to look around for a specific spot. “Let’s stay somewhere without a lot of people swarming around.”  
  
She nods again—it seems like she has lost her voice all of a sudden—and Nino drags her by the hand to a spot where they can still oversee the entire party, but without the intrusion of stream of people between and around them. He offers her a seat near the buffet table as he chooses to stand beside her. Yuriko is beginning to feel guilty for dragging him out here, when he’s not keen about everything in here at all; despite that, he has never shown any sign of annoyance or dislike ever since the night started. She can only _guess_ as to why he’s acting that way.  
  
Maybe she has been staring too much.  
  
In fact, she doesn’t know if he realizes it, but Yuriko cannot help but look at Nino’s every move when they’re together. It’s as if she’s going to miss something significant once she tears her attention away from him. When he _does_ notice, just like earlier tonight, he doesn’t ask “What are you looking at?” like he usually does when he’s with other people. Instead, he looks at her rather affectionately and smiles like a kitten, simple enough but at the same time, full of sincerity and fondness.  
  
When exactly she started to become aware of it, she doesn’t actually know, but it’s not like it matters now. Her tumultuous state of emotions as of late... that is what matters right now.  
  
She unconsciously clutches her heart; it keeps on beating so fast, inescapable. This kind of feeling sends her floating above her thoughts, as if she cannot do anything about it. (Not that she _would_ in the first place.)  
  
But, more than anything else, Yuriko is afraid.  
  
She’s afraid that she would come back down from soaring so blissfully and so carelessly, crashing so hard that it would force her not to trust someone this much again. And she is afraid, most especially, that he doesn’t feel the same way.  
  
  
Yuriko must have been thinking so far out of her consciousness that she finds herself already dashing out of the university hall with Nino, again taking her by the hand, avoiding every obstacle in the way.  
  
She wants to ask him where they will be going, but for some reason she believes in him enough not to. They continue to run and run like going after a never-ending chase, but it doesn’t exhaust her one bit; for her it feels exhilarating instead. Several meters thereafter, they reach a familiar place to Yuriko, and much more to Nino: his dorm room.  
  
They stand still in front of the door of his room. Yuriko looks at Nino, unsure and nervous and still afraid; despite that, the calm expression in his face as he gazes back at her with sparkling eyes contrasting the dark hallways sends shivers down her spine, perhaps in a good way. He tightens the squeeze on her left hand, the tender smile on his face emerging slowly.  
  
  
Yuriko is more than magic to Nino.  
  
He can certainly figure out any magic trick, but Yuriko always, _always_ manages to surprise him in more ways than one. She makes him want to know what makes her tick, and he indulges this whim every single time. But what’s more surprising to him is Nino himself. More than half of the things he says and does when he’s with Yuriko are a blur. He can usually control where he wants a certain conversation to go, but Yuriko makes him speechless. And if she has that power over his speech, what more does she have over his actions?  
  
And so this moment.  
  
Nino doesn’t exactly know why both of them are standing in front of his dorm room. He is well aware that his mind works in a more complicated manner than involving only emotions and impulse, so he tries not to entertain those thoughts for a while. Yuriko is just as fragile as he is—although he will _never_ admit this to anyone in his lifetime—so any wrong move from him will jeopardize whatever good he already has with her.  
  
He doesn’t want to change anything, but at the same time, he wants everything to become better. Isn’t that what normal people in love want anyway?  
  
He looks at her, trying to hide his doubts, and leans in for a gentle kiss. At that moment, she freezes in her position, but as the heat increases between them, she relaxes, putting her arms around his shoulders.  
  
  
Yuriko is nervous, worried, afraid. But when Nino conveys his emotions through this kiss, tender and sweet, all of that goes away; and nothing but certainty fills her mind.  
  
  
When they pull away for a while, Yuriko cannot help but beam at Nino, who is also smiling. He opens the door and leads her inside. At this moment Yuriko cannot be bothered with the dirty clothes on the floor, or the sheets of music scattered in his bed, plus those games he talked about before, especially since her eyes cannot leave him.  
  
Nino clears his throat, and says, “Huh, this must ruin the mood.”  
  
Yuriko laughs, touching his jawline and making him turn his face to look at her, “I don’t mind this at all.”  
  
He chuckles as well, “Oh really?” And when the jolly atmosphere dies down, he begins again, “But you don’t mind being with me?”  
  
She shakes her head. “I never did.”  
  
Then he comes to face her, stroking that stray bit of hair that’s covering her face, and leans in for another kiss, holding her by the small of her back to pull her into him. This time, it’s different. As their lips crash together, she notices that his kisses become much more aggressive than before, full of desire, entirely different from his cautious actions earlier. In the exchange of hot breaths, Yuriko realizes that this is what she wants too, as she runs her hands through his hair and one of her legs riding up on his behind.  
  
Instinctively, he grabs hold of that leg and caresses it, through and under her skirt, his other hand supporting her so she will not fall. He then speaks against her lips, “Are you sure this is okay?” He says it with so much yearning in his voice that it sends goosebumps on her skin.  
  
With a breathy “yes” from Yuriko (she is not even sure if she’s still making sense, being overcome with that much desire), Nino slowly takes her to his bed, and they fall together on it, a small joyous squeal coming out from her. He is on top, and it’s obvious that _this_ cuts his breath short for more than about half. But that does not stop him from anything.  
  
He plants butterfly kisses on her neck, continuing on her nape, and she gasps deeply every time, and he continues moving downward. He then pauses, holding at the hem of her blouse, to which she simply smiles, as if giving him permission. He goes on to remove it, as well as her skirt and his jeans and his shirt until nothing is on them anymore.  
  
Yuriko shivers, even though it’s already spring and Nino comes to cover them up with a thick blanket. He does nothing afterwards, only staring at her with shining eyes that seem to say something significant and with so much intent—it’s as if he’s trying to memorize every detail, every inch of her entire being: her fair, porcelain-like complexion, the smooth skin on her legs—which he has never seen until now—and those kind eyes that never leave his own.  
  
She can tell he does not want this night to end.  
  
“What are you doing?” Yuriko slowly blushes, giggling and looking away from him.  
  
“You’re beautiful, Yuriko.”  
  
It is the first time she hears him call her by name, and she has never known it would feel this good. It sends her head way above the clouds, her soul flying amongst them; bliss is not enough of a word to describe everything that courses through her heart right now.  
  
“Say my name over and over,” she then commands, all inhibitions lost, clawing his back with overflowing emotion and passion within her.  
  
And so he does. Every time he mentions “Yuriko”, their bodies join together in a rhythmic movement, surging with a complex combination of various sensations that makes their hearts burst, wanting more and more of each other.  
  
At that point, she thinks—nothing solidifies her feelings for him other than this moment: a moment of desire, passion and love. And they become one.  
  
  
 _As we reach the stars, those beyond the trees, the forest and the mountains, we create a world that is only ours._  
  
\---  
  
“Nino!”  
  
Someone is screaming his name, and it sounds terribly familiar.  
  
“Don’t leave me!”  
  
The voice is familiar because it is from someone he knows all too well. He knows even if he cannot see her through the blinding white light, standing yards away from him.  
  
“Please...”  
  
His past, as clichéd as it sounds, has come back to haunt him.  
  
“But I’m better off...” he whispers without confidence, because he also knows that what he’s saying is not entirely true.  
  
“Come back.”  
  
Nino then wakes up, and he sees Yuriko beside him, sleeping soundly.  
  
He wishes he can tell Yuriko everything. But he does not want to hurt her.  
  
  
 _A dream world for us exists, but it shall remain a dream; I cannot stay for long._  
  
\---  
  
She opens her eyes as she expects someone to either be beside her or greet her with one of his infamous witty remarks.  
  
But it’s neither.  
  
With only a shirt on and a blanket over the rest of her body, Yuriko sits up as quickly as she can, looking for any sign of Nino. He’s nowhere in sight.  
  
Even in a room as small as this, it feels lonely when empty, like a massive cloud that’s ready to shroud an entire memory forever, never to be found.  
  
Panicking, she checks her phone; no one’s left a message. Usually even when Nino decides to escape from one of their sessions, he lets Yuriko know afterwards through a message on her mobile phone. (Nino adds jokingly one time, “Technology allows for that kind of convenience.”) But now there’s none, and Yuriko’s heart beats even faster. Uncontrollably faster.  
  
Thinking what’s happening is probably out of the extraordinary, Yuriko impulsively tries to call Nino through phone.  
  
She hears his phone ring in the room. She immediately realizes that it’s situated on his desk. Knowing him, she figures that probably Nino thought about bringing his phone, but chose against it at the last minute.  
  
This rash action tells her that he is maybe in doubt. As much as she does not want to assume, she cannot help but think that she’s involved somehow. Is it because of last night? Did she do something wrong? Can it possibly be her fault?  
  
  
Still in much panic, she gets off the bed, searching for something, _anything_ that may help her know what he’s up to. She then finds out that Nino left a note beside his mobile phone. It does not necessarily help to make the anxiety go away; after all, the rhythm of her breathing is gradually picking up. She picks it up and reads it.  
  
 _To Yuriko,  
Sorry I left without saying anything. You must’ve already noticed that I didn’t bring my phone either. I just want to be alone. It’s probably for the best.  
  
And Yuriko, it’s not your fault.  
  
Nino  
  
P.S. I forgot to tell you last night: My costume was supposed to make me look like a die, the one you use for games and gambling. Yeah, that. You saw only three dots so technically that’s a one-sided die. I got lazy to make more dots for my back._  
  
Even though the postscript makes her laugh, tears have already started flowing from Yuriko’s eyes. The fear of the uncertain fills her entire being—what Nino is doing, what he can do, what he _will_ do, plus the fact that he has left her hanging as to why he suddenly acts this way. How can possibly Yuriko know what to do when she doesn’t know what’s wrong to begin with?  
  
Nonetheless she is quick on her feet; she hurriedly dresses up and dashes out of the university dormitory in hopes that she will find Nino, safe and sound. She looks for him in every place that she knows he may be: in the cafeteria, in her studio (and all the other studios), even under the birch tree, but still there is no sign of him.  
  
“Kazu...” she breathes out, panting heavily. It’s the first time she has said his name.  
  
Then she recalls a particular place; she asked Nino one time about the premise behind Gimmick Game, and while he did not say anything significant about the actual _meaning_ of the song, Nino did mention a place where he wrote it. “The baseball field overlooking the cherry blossoms at Tokyo Bay,” he once told her.  
  
She arrives at the area, and a smile naturally takes over her previously concerned expression. Nino is indeed in the middle of the aforementioned baseball field, feigning a throw of the ball from the pitcher's plate. The sound of her footsteps on the solid ground catches his attention, full of surprise before he swiftly changes it to a familiar smile.  
  
Yuriko feels a breath come off her chest—she hasn’t realized she’s been holding it for a while now.  
  
Nino continues with his imaginary pitching as he starts to speak up. “I shouldn’t have told you about this place. I knew you’d find me.”  
  
She still feels there’s something wrong, though. Why is he acting now like nothing bad happened? What was the note for? Is this some sort of prank, sending her into panic for basically nothing? More questions are coming into her head than answers.  
  
“Why did you...?” It’s obvious she doesn’t know which question to ask him first.  
  
He merely scoffs, still not turning around to face her. “I told you: I want to be alone.”  
  
“You liar,” she’s holding back these tears, knowing there is something she _should_ be worried about and becoming vexed that he does not care at all that she is.  
  
“And I told you,” he purposely ignores her, “It’s not your fault.”  
  
“What is?!” The frustration is evident in her voice, freezing in her current stance.  
  
“That I want to be alone.” It’s the same time that Nino looks at her, his eyes showing a very pitiful state of being; it sends her into more heartbreak. He looks away again, sighing a little too heavily. “I realized it not because of what happened between us. I mean... do you know why I suddenly dragged you out of the party last night?”  
  
Yuriko only shakes her head, tears clouding her sight.  
  
“ _Gimmick Game._ ” He sighs again.  
  
“W-What?”  
  
“The girl you said I wrote it for? I saw her at the party.”  
  
She blinks repeatedly, making her tears stream continuously down her flawless face.  
  
Nino raises his head, his attention to the sky above him, “I’ve always been not courageous enough to forget. It’s hard to admit, but probably nothing in my past is over yet. She’s haunting me in my dreams. I’m still stuck in that same hole that’s keeping me from crawling out, like I’ve been in a quicksand all this time.”  
  
“No, don’t say that,” she murmurs, realizing as well that everything may have just been a dream. She should have known that it’s too good to be true. Nothing goes too well in this world—she has known that from the start—yet now she faces the same heartache; why must it happen only to her?  
  
“And when I met you...” Yuriko doesn’t notice that Nino has already walked over to her as he puts his hands over her shoulders and squeezes them tightly. “I thought, ‘she will change my life and help me forget all the pain I’ve gone through’. And you did,” he chuckles but his voice is breaking. “You have done all of that. For me.”  
  
“What are you saying?” She cannot help but ask more; she’s not processing anything that he’s been trying to tell her at this moment. “I-I don’t understand.”  
  
“It’s me. Whatever is screwed up is my fault,” he admits as he lets go and looks away once more. “I can’t afford to hurt you any further. I don’t want to.” He proceeds to wiping all of her tears with both of his thumbs, trying to lighten it up by chuckling at the same time, “Come on, you’re a strong girl. You did that magnificent painting when you were troubled, right? Whatever troubles you have, you can turn it into your strength. That’s what I like most about you.”  
  
Yuriko never imagined she could cry this much, even if she has cried many, many times before. It’s painfully exhausting, but it’s the only thing she can resort to doing right now. It never crossed her mind, even just one moment, how much it hurts, crashing back to the ground without someone to catch her.  
  
And while she still thinks Nino is different, the pain isn’t. It frustrates her how she’s reminded of this again after so long.  
  
“Stop crying,” he finally gives her a tight embrace, “You know I won’t forgive myself. Look, let’s have a deal, alright?” He pulls away at shoulder’s length, grabbing onto her shoulders. He momentarily pauses, his eyes fixated on hers. When she nods, he continues, “Let’s meet again a week before I graduate; catch up, see what happens. It’s going to be a long wait, but I’m already looking forward to it.”  
  
She nods again, although she does not fully believe in it.  
  
  
 _Crumbling, this dream world has revealed itself to be a nightmare._  
  
\---  
  
Nino has understood the value of surprises ever since he met Yuriko. It’s been eight months. He is standing in front of Yuriko’s studio, knowing well that she spends her Saturdays in here (plus the fact that he saw her enter the room earlier).  
  
He is excited, nervous and happy all at the same time. But most of all, he is terrified. He isn’t sure if she is just as ready as he is with meeting each other again after so long; he is aware that his revelation was hard for her to accept, possibly much more to bear seeing that very person who made it hard for her in the first place.  
  
So he resorts to the most cowardly thing he can ever do in his lifetime (and will never ever admit if asked about it): Leave something for her in front of the studio. He knows it may get stolen by mindless brats, so he also opts to be on the lookout, at least until he sees her pick up the thing with his own eyes. He can actually be overly dedicated if he wants to.  
  
He leaves it there, knocks on the door three times or more, and quickly runs to the next corner about half a hundred feet away to peek at the scenario. He can hear footsteps, so he knows she is walking towards the door. The door opens, and there Yuriko is.  
  
Nino observes that she has a much longer hair, dyed brown, permed at the ends and tied sideways, resting on her left shoulder. He forgets that time can change a person so much; he just hopes that she hasn’t changed entirely. She then looks around, as he tries not to get noticed, and shrugs, finally picking up something that’s standing in front of her and closing the door afterwards.  
  
He sighs. He can hope for a lot of possibilities from this point on, but his true wish is for Yuriko is to choose what she thinks is right. Even if it doesn’t involve him at all.  
  
  
Yuriko’s heart is beating so fast. This has not happened in a while, and she doesn’t understand why she feels that way. It feels so unique, special. Then it hits her; this particular feeling reminds her of Nino (and only him), but she convinces herself that there are still three weeks until their so-called deal is carried out. She doesn’t need to see him until then.  
  
But she takes a look at the wrapped package she is holding. It has a note in it, and the handwriting—she will never, _ever_ , forget it.  
  
 _To Yuriko,  
  
Surprised?  
I was hoping I could surprise you at least once in my life; you seem to have the knack of doing it to me all the time without much effort. It’s frustrating, really. That’s why this present mysteriously and suddenly appears in your doorstep today.  
  
And I know, I kind of broke the deal off by showing up in your studio in a form of a small package, but as much as I am confident most of the time, there are certain risks that I don’t want to take, because it involves the feelings of someone I truly care about. So, if you want the deal to push through completely, meet me tomorrow at your favorite spot in the campus. Eleven o’clock. (Since, y’know, I might oversleep.) I will be waiting.  
  
Nino  
  
P.S. I hope you like this._  
  
She catches her breath, as if hyperventilating. She _thinks_ it’s out of excitement. And it probably is.  
  
Without any hesitation, she hurriedly tears the wrapper off. It is revealed to be a journal. Yuriko smiles effortlessly; she cannot dispute that this is Nino. She then opens the journal, and her eyes light up: Every page, at the very bottom, there are lines written personally by Nino.  
  
 _“Day One: The beautiful morning sun shines over the world that we have created.”  
  
“Day Eight: I have been dreaming of you, wishing I was standing atop of a cliff with you.”  
  
“Day Seventeen: Only you and me. Our own private happiness.”  
  
“Day Twenty-Two: Love is what keeps this dream world alive.”_  
  
And it goes on.  
  
She giggles at every page turn; at the hilarity, at the corniness, and at the sincerity. That’s when she realizes: She hasn’t changed her feelings for him all this time. While it has indeed been eight long months, she has been struggling to forget about the heartbreak, but the only thing that has helped her through is finishing her experimental painting with Nino. That is the only thing she has been working on intensively. It keeps her going. And now, she _will_ see him again, and all kinds of emotions are coursing through her veins: anxiety, excitement and delight.  
  
Needless to say, waiting for an entire day to pass will be such a pain.  
  
  
The next day arrives. Nino is expectedly nervous today, as he already dropped his mobile phone twice because his hands have been shaking too much. Then, of course, he begins to feel like he has been overthinking his choice of clothing, hoping he still knows Yuriko well enough not to drive her away with his eccentricity. And that is saying much considering he thinks of her the same way.  
  
Nino walks out of his dorm room and eventually out of the dorm building as he tries to act poised and relaxed—which he thinks isn’t very hard to do, really—even if it is just a guise. Exactly five minutes past, reaching the spot where the birch tree is situated, in less than a hundred meters he sets his eyes on Yuriko, who is busy, as usual, painting on a canvas under that tree.  
  
His heart starts to race. At this moment he does not know how to begin the conversation, especially since he’s been thinking if she is now a completely different person. He knows it’s hard for a person to change in just a few months, but it _is_ Yuriko. He will always be expecting something out of the ordinary when it comes to her.  
  
But he cannot help it when he is finally simply standing in front of her though, because he blurts out, “Have you ever changed your wardrobe, _ever_?”  
  
Her serene eyes suddenly turn into surprised, looking around before noticing him. She unconsciously gasps, inhaling more air than intended.  
  
He chuckles, clearly gaining his confidence back, albeit slowly. “How are you?” He breathes out heavily, his gaze anywhere but on her and his right foot drawing small circles on the grass beneath him. “S-Sorry for everything I did to you. I was selfish.”  
  
“You don’t have to apologize.” She continues painting once she recovered from the initial shock. She tries to remain collected. “You knew what you were doing. Besides, you were right. It might have become worse if we went on, whatever we had, when obviously you hadn’t moved on yet.” She shifts her glance to him, which startles him a bit, as she raises an eyebrow. “I could’ve at least tried to help make the nightmares go away though.”  
  
“Yeah, but I already messed up way before that. I shouldn’t have led you on.”  
  
“You were happy though, right? When you were with me.” She is taunting him with her eyes.  
  
Nino smirks. “Have you gotten _that_ overconfident after we parted?”  
  
Yuriko smirks as well, shrugging. “I can only learn from the best, you know that.”  
  
“Right. Then you should be grateful to me.” He scoffs.  
  
Her smirk becomes a simple smile. She mumbled, “I was happy too.”  
  
He raises his eyebrow. “What’s that?”  
  
“And you didn’t answer my question—you deflected—which means the answer is the more embarrassing one. You _were_ happy with me.”  
  
“And so were you. You didn’t repeat what you said when I asked you.” Nino cannot stop himself from being deadpan anymore, bursting into small snickers.  
  
She chuckles in response, “But you _did_ hear what I said.”  
  
“This argument will never end, will it.” He pouts.  
  
“I don’t think so.” Yuriko disguises her uncontrollable giggles with a smirk, if that actually makes a difference at all. “Aren’t you curious about what happened to your painting?”  
  
“I’m more curious about what happened to the journal I gave you.”  
  
She blushes. “Thank you. It was sweet. I’m in love with it.”   
  
“‘It’, huh.” He pouts again. “Well, now, _it_ is curious of the painting. How can you have finished the thing when _it_ stopped seeing you?”  
  
“Would it help if I said that I couldn’t get _its_ image off my mind?” She looks away, apparently still too shy to confess all of this to him. “Here.”  
  
She shows him a canvas with a picture of him smiling as he writes, his eyes sparkling even without his glances directly aiming at the audience. But it looks vague. He appears to be writing, but Nino cannot clearly make it out underneath all the various sceneries that fill the white spaces of the canvas. Reaching the top at the dawn of the rising sun, walking across the river streams, lying down on the vast fields of dandelions, he _can_ identify two figures in each scenery.  
  
His first comment, strangely, is, “You cheated.”  
  
“H-Huh?”  
  
“You told me this was an experiment. For a change. You still have those nature scenes in these paintings.”  
  
“Well...” she continues with the brush strokes, “I couldn’t resist putting together all the things I love in this world.”  
  
He scoffs, “Is that a confession I’m hearing?” He then holds her hand, as she smiles at her painting.  
  
“I’m not saying anything more.” She raises an eyebrow at him, subtly shaking her head while giving him a slighted smile.  
  
“You don’t need to.”  
  
And with that, he gives her a simple peck on the lips, but both Nino and Yuriko know the feeling this brings will linger for as long as they will allow it to.  
  
Maybe, and hopefully, forever.  
  
  
 _The world only becomes wonderful when there is the two of us._

**Author's Note:**

> P.S. Yes, Nino's costume is a reference to Jim's from The Office (US).


End file.
